


a cold night

by BlueFingers (POPP_Writing_Group)



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gore, Harm to Children, Hurt No Comfort, Please Don't Hate Me, Pre-Earth Transformers, Unhappy Ending, What-If, Whump, Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 06:45:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16192244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/POPP_Writing_Group/pseuds/BlueFingers
Summary: TFP Soundwave has only one symbiote, Laserbeak.  What happened to the other four?





	a cold night

**Author's Note:**

> HA. Why did I write this,

Carrier was tense.  Carrier had lost a match.  Carrier would have to leave to pay his dues soon, and he never let any of the cassettes come with him for that.

Ravage paced, bristling with outrage.  It had been Rumble and Frenzy’s fault-- they had been so focused on trying to fight the other gladiator that they hadn’t come back to form Carrier’s abdominal armor in time, and he’d gone down, sparking and bleeding energon--

The twins knew it was their fault.  They’d been silent and miserable ever since they returned to the apartments.  

Laserbeak, on the other hand, hadn’t moved from Carrier’s chest since he’d been defeated, not even when the medics had repaired him.  She hated being apart from him. Ravage wanted nothing more than to join her, to curl up and twist his t-cog and fix himself on Carrier’s thigh, and never let him be unprotected again.  But Carrier was leaving, and with all the soothing he was doing to Rumble and Frenzy, he didn’t need more worries. So Ravage paced, angry and growling slightly.

“Soundwave:  Secure,” Carrier was saying now, softly, to the twins.  “Unharmed. Repaired. Rumble and Frenzy: Not at fault.”

“Yeah, but you’re gonna have to go an’ pay yer dues to the other guy!” Frenzy burst out, and ran forward to bury his face in Carrier’s shoulder.  Rumble followed, as if dragged. “You hate doin’ that! And it’s our fault--”

“Our fault, Soundwave--”

“Rumble and Frenzy:   _ Not at fault,”  _ Soundwave repeated, and Ravage felt a stern press through the bond.  Rumble and Frenzy winced. “Soundwave: Will be fine.”

Above them, Buzzsaw made a disgruntled noise.  She had followed Carrier, once, after a lost fight.  She refused to tell the rest of the cassettes what happened when he went to “pay his dues.”

“We’re sorry--”

“Really sorry--”

“Soundwave:  Must go,” Carrier said, gently removing Rumble and Frenzy from his shoulders.  “Laserbeak: Detach.” 

Laserbeak slowly and grudgingly unfolded from Carrier’s chest, and fluttered up to join Buzzsaw on the highest bunk.

“Rumble and Frenzy:  Be calm,” Carrier instructed.  “Query: Cassettes require fuel?”

“No, Carrier,” Ravage said, immediately, before any of the younger symbiotes could speak up.  “We fueled before the match.”

Carrier looked at him.  Ravage stood firm. He had withstood harder looks before, and they didn’t have the shanix to buy fuel when they needed it for Carrier’s repairs.

“Very well,” Carrier said, finally.  He pressed down affection and care through the bond, and Ravage closed his eyes and basked in it, trying to feel it as long as he could.  

Then Carrier snapped off the bond, and Ravage was left feeling alone and cold and cut off.  He curled up-- ignoring Rumble and Frenzy’s small whimpers as their connection to the bond was tamped as well-- wrapped his tail around himself, and buried his head in his forelegs.

“Soundwave:  Will be back,” Carrier said.

He left.

 

Ravage booted up when the door opened, instinctively revving up his vocalizer for a snarl that would hopefully both scare away an intruder and alert his fellow symbiotes to an attack.  

But it was only Carrier, limping and making small noises that he never let the cassettes hear, not even when he’d been beaten in a match.  Ravage hunched back down into himself, trying to ignore the sounds and wishing he’d never woken up.

 

Rumble and Frenzy followed the plan next time, transforming back into Soundwave’s abdominal armor as soon as there came a need.  Soundwave was proud. Soundwave knew they would learn and grow from what had happened. 

They had extra shanix that night.  Soundwave took his cassettes to get fuel.  He let them drink all they wanted. Ravage wouldn’t drink his.  He told Soundwave to drink it. Ravage was a good symbiote, but he needed to fuel.  Soundwave told his cassettes that if they drank what they were given, he would take them to see Megatronus’ speech.  Ravage fueled after that. Ravage liked Megatronus.

Soundwave was happy.  He had won his match. Soundwave didn’t often win matches.  He knew the audience had bet heavily against him. They had been unhappy when he won.  But that was not Soundwave’s problem. 

He hadn’t decided to take dues from the other mech, either.  Soundwave knew that was not something he would ever do to someone.

He let his cassettes detach from their places-- he made them stay in their armor mode, usually, when they were out of their apartments.  So people didn’t see them. So people wouldn’t hurt them. But today he let them go, so they could run around and watch Megatronus.

Laserbeak didn’t want to detach.  Soundwave let her stay on his chest.  But Rumble and Frenzy and Ravage and Buzzsaw detached and went to the crowd to watch.

Soundwave wasn’t worried about them very much.  He could feel his cassettes’ emotions vaguely through the bond, and kept half an optic on them.  If it started feeling like they were in trouble, well-- Soundwave would find them, and he would kill whoever was bothering them.

Soundwave sent a private purr through his chest plating to Laserbeak, letting her know that she was loved very much.  Laserbeak needed this kind of thing sometimes. All his cassettes were different. Buzzsaw liked it when Soundwave told her how pretty she was.  Rumble and Frenzy both liked it when Soundwave let them recharge close to him, even if they said they didn’t. Ravage was a good cassette, but he wouldn’t admit that he liked anything Soundwave did.  But Soundwave was on to him. Ravage liked being petted. He purred.

Soundwave hummed to himself as the crowds gathered, fingers drumming gently on Laserbeak’s plating.  He was happy. He was mostly repaired by now. His cassettes were happy. They got to be around people they weren’t fighting.

It was a good day.

And then, voices.  

“Hey!  It’s the Sparkeater guy!”

Crude voices.  Crude faces. He wasn’t a sparkeater.  But people called him that in the gladiator ring.  

“Hey, sparkeater!  You cost me a lot of money!”  This mech was angrier. Soundwave was uncomfortable.  He began to make a pull on the bond, telling his symbiotes to come back so they could leave.

“I bet against you!  How’d you win, huh?”

“Yeah!  How’d you beat Motormaster?”

“I bet five thousand shanix on Motormaster!”

Soundwave ducked his head and tried to move away.  One of the mecha grabbed him. He didn’t like that.  He didn’t like being touched. He dug in his audio files and retrieved a recording of a sparkeater screech, played it loud enough to damage his attackers’ audials.

It worked.  They backed away.

But then Ravage and Buzzsaw and Frenzy and Rumble came back, and everyone started looking at them, and Soundwave started to get scared.  He pushed down on the bond with an urgent emotion.

Ravage understood.  He jumped up and transformed and attached himself to Soundwave’s leg.  Then Buzzsaw did it, on Soundwave’s other leg. And Rumble and Frenzy transformed themselves around Soundwave’s torso.  

That should have been good.  That should have been the end of it.  But now the crowd was looking at him, and the angry mech was tilting his head, and Soundwave really was scared now.  He tried to get away again. He couldn’t.

“So that’s how that works,” said the angry one.  He laughed. Soundwave didn’t like his laugh. He didn’t like  _ anything  _ about this.  He wanted to get his cassettes out of here.

Ravage made a worried ping through the bond.  Soundwave knew. He was worried too. He was very worried that these mecha might do something bad to his cassettes, now that they could see them.

He reached down into his audio files and played Megatronus’ voice, angry and shouting and terrifying.  

|  **BACK** **_OFF-- kkshhch-- STOP! |_ **

The mecha backed away.  Megatronus’ was not a voice you disregarded.  By the time they realized that it was only a recording, Soundwave had transformed and was gone.

 

That had been a bad time.  They didn’t even get to listen to Megatronus’ speech, and that  _ sucked.   _ Carrier was all tense again, and he wouldn’t let them turn back to their root modes, even when Rumble and Frenzy asked  _ nicely.   _ Not even when they got back to the apartments.  Carrier just locked the door and went to the bunk and lay down with everyone still in their armor modes!  And then he just stayed there for, like, an hour! And yeah, it was  _ kinda  _ nice, like he was pulsing all sorts of nice feelings at everyone through the bond, but still!

Ravage wasn’t complaining, because stupid  _ Ravage  _ always listened to what Carrier wanted and stupid  _ Ravage  _ was always good.  Buzzsaw wasn’t complaining because Buzzsaw was asleep.  Laserbeak wasn’t complaining because she was just a big baby who liked it better in armor mode than root mode.  But  _ some  _ cassettes needed their freedom!   _ Some  _ cassettes liked it outside of armor mode!  

“Hey, Soundwave!”

A pause.  Then, tiredly, Carrier answered, “Frenzy:  Has a question?”

_ “ _ Please let us out?”

Rumble helped.  “Please, big guy?”  

_ “ _ Query:  Why do Rumble and Frenzy wish to disengage?”

Frenzy shifted in his alt-mode, squirming on Carrier’s abdomen.  “Cuz we’re big now, Carrier! Soundwave, I mean. We’re okay to not be in armor mode all the time!”

_ “ _ Yeah!” Rumble added.  “You can let us out, we’ll be okay!”

There was another pause, during which Ravage pulsed angry reproach at the two of them for “bothering Carrier.”  Rumble and Frenzy ignored him. Goody-two-shoes.

Then Carrier sighed and relaxed against the berth and gave them permission to go to root mode.  Rumble and Frenzy both pressed against him for a tiny bit longer, as thank-you, and transformed out.  

And as soon as they were off, Buzzsaw woke up and wanted off, too.  Ravage didn’t like being alone, so he disengaged as well. Soon, only Laserbeak was left, and Laserbeak was a baby so she didn’t count.  

“Cassettes:  Need to recharge,” Carrier said, firmly.  

“Aw, Soundwave--” Rumble protested.

“Negative.  Cassettes: Will recharge.”

“Yes, Carrier,” Ravage said immediately, and glared at Rumble and Frenzy as he curled around to go to sleep.

What a hard-aft.  

But Rumble and Frenzy were tired, yeah, even if they didn’t want to admit it in front of  _ Ravage.   _ So they climbed up on the berth next to Carrier and sat down and were just sort of--  _ by  _ him, letting him put his arms around them.  It was nice. 

They fell asleep.

 

The door opened. 

The locked door opened.  

Soundwave booted online, but he was too slow.  The intruders-- the intruders!-- jumped atop him and slammed his face into the berth, pinning him there.  Panic erupted in him as his systems scrambled to catch up with the situation, but it was useless.

“Hey, sparkeater,” said a voice, cruel and amused.  

Soundwave struggled.  This shouldn’t be happening.  The door couldn’t be opened by force.  It was locked. It was designed that way!

“If you’re wondering how we got in,” the voice continued, “it seems that the mech you’re rentin’ from lost a lot of money on your fight too.”

No.   _ No.   _

His cassettes!  Where were they?   _ Where were they?! _

He strained his audio sensors, trying to hear anything.  His spark contracted in horror as the effort was rewarded by the faint sounds of Ravage growling, Rumble and Frenzy whimpering.  And-- something else, something terribly familiar-- something like--

“C’mon, hold ‘im down,” said another voice.  “Gotta get this over with before the wiries get here.”

Buzzsaw.  Laserbeak.  Where were they?  Laserbeak was on his chest.  The intruders hadn’t recognized her in her armor mode.  Buzzsaw?

_ No, no.  No, please. _

He bucked and struggled with all his might, trying to find Buzzsaw.  The mech atop him laughed. He  _ laughed. _

“Show ‘im the birdie one.”

Soundwave felt his helm being grabbed, forced to the side.  

Something inside him broke.  

Buzzsaw was dead.  Buzzsaw was broken and bleeding and  _ dead.   _ They had killed her.  They-- they had-- they--

A wordless cry escaped him, scratching with static and pain.  He collapsed, limp, against the berth.

He felt panicked pulses from Rumble and Frenzy and Ravage.  They were scared. They were--  _ scared,  _ and Soundwave was giving up-- 

No.  He couldn’t.

“Carrier--” Rumble said, his voice sounding terrified, and Soundwave snapped.  He screamed and clawed at the mech above him, trying to fight his way towards his remaining symbiotes.

“Whoa, hold ‘im,” said a voice, sounding alarmed.

“I am!  Hurry up!” said the mech above Soundwave.

The other mech turned to him.  “We can’t kill ya, you’re too important.  An’ Megatronus likes ya, for some reason. But we  _ can  _ do  _ this.” _

Soundwave watched, agonized, as the mech snatched Frenzy and held him up in front of Soundwave’s face.  Frenzy was still fighting him. Frenzy was-- Frenzy was--

Frenzy was dead.  

His helm rolled to the ground, underneath the berth, and the mech dropped the rest of his body to the floor.

Soundwave crumpled, howling and spitting static through a haze of pain.  He played the sparkeater screech again and again, trying to blow out the audials of the mech above him.  It didn’t work. It didn’t  _ work,  _ and Frenzy was  _ dead. _

Rumble was crying.

He didn’t fight when the mech grabbed him.

“Ss--st--op,” Soundwave managed, forcing words through a vocoder that didn’t want to respond.  “No. Stop.  _ Stop.” _

The mech laughed.  He  _ laughed.   _ And, with the same quick rip of his hands--

Rumble was dead.

_ “NO!”  _ Soundwave screamed, as the mech reached to take hold of Ravage.   _ “NO!”   _ Megatronus’ voice.   **| STOP! |**

“That ain’t gonna work again,” the mech said, holding Ravage well away from his body.  Ravage was fighting. Ravage was snarling and kicking.

“R-Ravage:  Is g-good cassette,” Soundwave sobbed, and pressed down as much love and comfort as he could through the bond-- the bond-- the broken and shattered bond-- 

He couldn’t bring himself to look away as--

Ravage was dead.

“Primus,” the mech above him said, disgustedly, as Soundwave collapsed against the berth.  “All that over a bunch of drones.”

“Some mecha are just glitched like that,” the other one said dismissively, shaking energon off his hands.  “C’mon, knock ‘im out and let’s go.”

Soundwave pressed his helm against the berth and cried tears no one would ever hear until he was delivered darkness.

 

_ Carrier.  Carrier. Carrier, please. _

Carrier wasn’t responding, he was asleep-- or-- he was asleep.  Laserbeak was smooshed against the berth. She liked being in armor mode, but this was uncomfortable.  And Carrier wasn’t listening to her.

She wiggled and transformed and went to root mode, squeezed out from underneath Carrier’s body, and fluttered to the floor.

Huh.

That was weird.  There was blue sticky stuff on the floor.  That stuff was ring-stuff. That was the stuff that mecha started bleeding when Carrier hurt them.  But why was it on the floor?

Hmm.

Laserbeak pulsed inquisitively at Ravage-- Ravage usually answered her questions.  But the bond was feeling. . .  _ weird.   _ It was almost. . . well, it was  _ weird.   _ Not-all-there.  Kinda broken. 

What was going on?

Laserbeak fluttered a little more across the floor.  The ring-stuff was  _ everywhere.   _ But Ravage and Frenzy and Rumble and Buzzsaw weren’t in the room.  And that was  _ really  _ weird.  Why would they be gone when Carrier was here?

“Laserbeak.”

Laserbeak turned around, happy to hear Carrier’s voice.  Carrier was awake now. He could explain the sticky ring-stuff to her, and tell her where Rumble and Frenzy and Ravage and Buzzsaw were.

But Carrier wasn’t doing anything.  He was just. . . sitting there, putting his helm in his hands.  And-- Laserbeak tentatively poked at the bond, trying to understand the feeling coming from him.

It was. . . really sad.  

That wasn’t what Carrier was supposed to do.  Carrier wasn’t supposed to be sad. Carrier wasn’t supposed to  _ cry.   _ Where was Ravage?  Ravage could make him feel better.

Laserbeak kind of started to get scared.  She didn’t want Carrier to be sad. So when he pulsed a sort of  _ come, please  _ through the bond, she hopped toward him immediately, chirping and humming as she fixed herself on his chest again.

“Laserbeak. . .” Carrier said again.

“ _ Buzzsaw?”  _ she chirped.  “ _ Rumble and Frenzy?  Ravage? Where?” _

But Carrier just put his hands on her chassis and lay down and hugged her to him and  _ cried. _


End file.
